Southbank Centre gets lighting makeover from A.C.

Situated on the south bank of the River Thames next to the London Eye, the Southbank Centre is one of the largest single-run arts centres in the world. Featuring the Royal Festival Hall, Hayward Gallery, Queen Elizabeth Hall (containing the Purcell Room) and the Saison Poetry Library, the Centre’s wide-ranging programme of music, literature and the visual arts attracts a diverse audience.

A.C. Special Projects were approached to specify and supply a high power outdoor gobo projector to provide a visually impactful logo above the entrance to the Hayward Gallery’s trendy CONCRETE cafe and late night bar, which takes its name from the building’s striking 1960s architecture.

Based on the available throw distance and the necessity to achieve a 6m wide projection of the logo, the company specified a Griven GoboStorm IP65-rated outdoor gobo projector with a powerful 575W metal halide lamp and high precision zoom optics to achieve the required image size, brightness level and clarity.

A.C. Special Projects were also contracted to specify and supply outdoor LED lighting to highlight an area under a railway bridge leading from the Royal Festival Hall to a restaurant and other visitor attractions along the South Bank area.

To overcome planning restrictions that prohibited the use of fixings into the tunnel wall, the company specified Pulsar ChromaStrip 2 LED tube architectural lighting. Featuring an IP66-rated waterproof plastic enclosure, the 1.2m length LED tubes were lightweight enough to be hung via clips from a rain drainage guttering running along the inside of the tunnel. The fixtures were manufactured to order with Blue LEDs to provide a much higher brightness level than the standard RGB configuration and are comparatively energy efficient, running on a 12V power supply.